Natural Lefty
09-26-2009, 02:20 PM
Well, fall is here, but it does not feel that way. I decided to go to Perris despite the heat for my weekly friday afternoon fishing session. For one thing, I figured it would not be very crowded. For another, I have a pretty full agenda, so the half hour drive to Perris was more appealing than some 1 1/2 hour drive.
I was correct about it not being very crowded at Perris. I got there around 3 p.m., which turned out to be way too early, and went to the deserted docks in the launch ramp area. I fished at the surprisingly windy luanch ramp for about an hour, with only one missed bite. Thus, I decided to go to the marina docks again at 4 p.m. The young lady in the store gave me a dock fishing wristband for free, since it was already 4 p.m. What a nice young lady!
Fishing was better in the deeper water from the docks, but only for small Bluegills. By the time the lake employee came to close the gate at 6 p.m. or so, I had caught 4 of them on worms, but all small. The first one unfortunately had hooked itself in the gills and was bleeding profusely when I brought it in. When I took the hook out, part of the gill came out, too, so I kept it to fertilize my Dragon Fruit plants which are doing so well this year due to my weekly feedings of whatever is left over after filleting the week's catch (Opaleyes mostly, plus Redears, Crappie, and Bluegills). While I was out on the docks, I noticed that there were a great quantity of Midges, many of them floating on the surface. I guess they are laying eggs again. Some of them even got on my equipment. The Shad were pecking at the ones on the surface, but the gamefish were too deep to know they were there.
After the gate was closed, I went to the area in front of the gate again, but this time, the fish were not biting. Even the guy who had the stringer of fish last time, had caught nothing this time. I did manage to catch another small Bluegill there, but that was it. The only other fish I saw caught yesterday was a small Bass someone caught from shore. I attribute the mediocre fishing to the heat. Rather than waiting for the fish to start biting in the marina, at 6:30 I decided mostly out of curiousity, to go back to the launch ramp to find out whether the evening fishing was any better there.
That turned out to be a good move. After a while, I had a bump on my nightcrawler piece, so I waited a few seconds, then moved the bait a bit again, the fish took it, and it turned out to be a good size Bluegill, the catch of the day. It was a little bigger than the larger of the 2 Redears I caught last time. Strangely, I caught it only 20-30 feet from shore, and there were zero bites on worms after that.
However, around 7 p.m., as it was starting to get dark, masses of Bluegills suddenly started surfacing to feed on Midges and whatever other flies were present. Fortunately, the wind I had experienced earlier in the day had calmed down to a light breeze by then. Thus, I found a tan terrestrial type fly pattern in my fly box (sorry, don't know the pattern), and set up a bobber and fly rig. My choice of flies turned out to be a good one, as I got 3 strikes on my first cast -- all missed. But nevermind, I did catch 3 Bluegills on the fly over the next half hour, two on the right side (away from the ramp), one to the left (directly over the ramp). All of them were small, but actually a little bigger than the ones I caught from the marina docks. Anyway, I put them back to grow up, hopefully to return to my line as big ones someday. (Anyone believe in Karma?) Actually, some of the largest Bluegills I have ever caught, at Perris and elsewhere, have been on flies, although most of them are on the small side. I have also caught Redears, Green Sunfish, and Pumpkinseeds on flies, but many more Bluegills. I love catching Bluegills on flies, so that made a good ending to my hot sweaty fishing afternoon. I had drank more than a bottle of Poweraid by the time I left at 7:45. For about the last 15 minutes, nothing bit on flies or worms. I guess the fish had gone to sleep, or at least were taking a rest. That was my cue that it was time to go home and take a rest.
Fish do sleep, by the way. I have often seen them sleeping, even while fishing. That is one reason that a fish totally ignores one's bait sometimes.
It was pretty mediocre fishing, probably due to the excessive heat, but things were interesting in the end.
Here's the catch:
3 small Bluegills on redworms (2 released, 1 kept due to gill damage),
3 Bluegills on nightcrawler pieces (1 large one kept, 2 small ones released),
and 3 smallish Bluegills on the tan colored fly (all released)
The one larger Bluegill is probably enough for an entire deluxe Sashimi plate, only fresher, and I will probably end up with at least a couple hundred dollars worth of Dragon Fruit this year -- yummy! (Dragon Fruit cost about 10-15 dollars each at the Chinese market.)
Captions for the 3 photos:
1. Gorjilina my home greeter checking out the camera with the keeper Bluegill in the background;
2. A closer view of the larger Bluegill;
3. A photo of some of my Dragon Fruit plants that I took earlier today. Notice the ripe, red fruit on these special cactus plants related to Christmas Cactus. Also, notice the bud in front which will hopefully develop into another fruit.
I was correct about it not being very crowded at Perris. I got there around 3 p.m., which turned out to be way too early, and went to the deserted docks in the launch ramp area. I fished at the surprisingly windy luanch ramp for about an hour, with only one missed bite. Thus, I decided to go to the marina docks again at 4 p.m. The young lady in the store gave me a dock fishing wristband for free, since it was already 4 p.m. What a nice young lady!
Fishing was better in the deeper water from the docks, but only for small Bluegills. By the time the lake employee came to close the gate at 6 p.m. or so, I had caught 4 of them on worms, but all small. The first one unfortunately had hooked itself in the gills and was bleeding profusely when I brought it in. When I took the hook out, part of the gill came out, too, so I kept it to fertilize my Dragon Fruit plants which are doing so well this year due to my weekly feedings of whatever is left over after filleting the week's catch (Opaleyes mostly, plus Redears, Crappie, and Bluegills). While I was out on the docks, I noticed that there were a great quantity of Midges, many of them floating on the surface. I guess they are laying eggs again. Some of them even got on my equipment. The Shad were pecking at the ones on the surface, but the gamefish were too deep to know they were there.
After the gate was closed, I went to the area in front of the gate again, but this time, the fish were not biting. Even the guy who had the stringer of fish last time, had caught nothing this time. I did manage to catch another small Bluegill there, but that was it. The only other fish I saw caught yesterday was a small Bass someone caught from shore. I attribute the mediocre fishing to the heat. Rather than waiting for the fish to start biting in the marina, at 6:30 I decided mostly out of curiousity, to go back to the launch ramp to find out whether the evening fishing was any better there.
That turned out to be a good move. After a while, I had a bump on my nightcrawler piece, so I waited a few seconds, then moved the bait a bit again, the fish took it, and it turned out to be a good size Bluegill, the catch of the day. It was a little bigger than the larger of the 2 Redears I caught last time. Strangely, I caught it only 20-30 feet from shore, and there were zero bites on worms after that.
However, around 7 p.m., as it was starting to get dark, masses of Bluegills suddenly started surfacing to feed on Midges and whatever other flies were present. Fortunately, the wind I had experienced earlier in the day had calmed down to a light breeze by then. Thus, I found a tan terrestrial type fly pattern in my fly box (sorry, don't know the pattern), and set up a bobber and fly rig. My choice of flies turned out to be a good one, as I got 3 strikes on my first cast -- all missed. But nevermind, I did catch 3 Bluegills on the fly over the next half hour, two on the right side (away from the ramp), one to the left (directly over the ramp). All of them were small, but actually a little bigger than the ones I caught from the marina docks. Anyway, I put them back to grow up, hopefully to return to my line as big ones someday. (Anyone believe in Karma?) Actually, some of the largest Bluegills I have ever caught, at Perris and elsewhere, have been on flies, although most of them are on the small side. I have also caught Redears, Green Sunfish, and Pumpkinseeds on flies, but many more Bluegills. I love catching Bluegills on flies, so that made a good ending to my hot sweaty fishing afternoon. I had drank more than a bottle of Poweraid by the time I left at 7:45. For about the last 15 minutes, nothing bit on flies or worms. I guess the fish had gone to sleep, or at least were taking a rest. That was my cue that it was time to go home and take a rest.
Fish do sleep, by the way. I have often seen them sleeping, even while fishing. That is one reason that a fish totally ignores one's bait sometimes.
It was pretty mediocre fishing, probably due to the excessive heat, but things were interesting in the end.
Here's the catch:
3 small Bluegills on redworms (2 released, 1 kept due to gill damage),
3 Bluegills on nightcrawler pieces (1 large one kept, 2 small ones released),
and 3 smallish Bluegills on the tan colored fly (all released)
The one larger Bluegill is probably enough for an entire deluxe Sashimi plate, only fresher, and I will probably end up with at least a couple hundred dollars worth of Dragon Fruit this year -- yummy! (Dragon Fruit cost about 10-15 dollars each at the Chinese market.)
Captions for the 3 photos:
1. Gorjilina my home greeter checking out the camera with the keeper Bluegill in the background;
2. A closer view of the larger Bluegill;
3. A photo of some of my Dragon Fruit plants that I took earlier today. Notice the ripe, red fruit on these special cactus plants related to Christmas Cactus. Also, notice the bud in front which will hopefully develop into another fruit.